


Coming Out and Finding Home

by TheSilverField



Series: All Things Ereri! [6]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst to Fluff, Angst with a Happy Ending, Asshole Grisha Yeager, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Eventual Fluff, Fluff, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Modern AU, Physical Abuse, Trigger Warning: Homophobia and Abuse, Trigger warning: homophobic slurs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-14 00:52:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14124600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSilverField/pseuds/TheSilverField
Summary: Eren accidentally comes out to his father, who isn't at all pleased to learn of his son's sexuality. Violence ensues, and Eren calls upon the only person he can. His boyfriend.





	Coming Out and Finding Home

**Author's Note:**

> Before you begin reading, know that this one-shot contains homophobia, homophobic slurs, and abuse in the first half! The second half will mention slurs and abuse, but will mostly contain fluff! If you haven't already, check the tags and be cautious!
> 
> Thank you for reading!

Eren couldn't dial his boyfriend's phone number fast enough, cursing as his fingers fumbled clumsily on the touchscreen with tears blurring his eyes. Holding the device to his ear, breath heaving, he flinched when the pounding on his door seemed to rattle in his bones, his father's furious voice screaming at him to open up.

"Eren, do you realize what time--"

"Please come get me..." If he wasn't so afraid, Eren would have felt terrible for waking Levi when they both had school in the morning, but the man on the other side of the locked door kept him from feeling much of anything other than fear and dread.

There was a rustling on the other end of the line, and Eren thought for a moment that the call had disconnected. But a moment later, Levi's now alert voice came through the speaker once again, and Eren sighed in relief. "Has he been drinking?"

The boy nodded stiffly before he gathered enough sense to speak up, his voice barely above a whisper to keep his father from finding out he was on the phone. "Yes..."

"Did he hit you?" His boyfriend's words were strained with worry and anger, and Eren knew he wouldn't be able to calm him down if he told him the truth right away. He didn't even know if he could, though he knew he would have to at some point. Especially since he'd be seeing him soon.

Hopefully.

"Just park down the street. In the usual spot. I'll be waiting. Please hurry." Is all he said, throwing a weeks worth of clothes and his school books into a duffel bag.

There was silence on the other end, and Eren could tell that Levi already knew. That he was struggling to keep himself from exploding. But to his relief, he didn't argue. "How are you going to get out of the house?"

Eren paused for a moment. Teal eyes darted from the door to the window, and Eren knew exactly what he had to do. "I'll have to sneak out the window..." he whimpered softly, knowing it was his only choice if he wanted to avoid his father. And boy did he. So much so that he was willing to risk life and limb, taking a two story fall like a champ. "I'll be okay, babe... Don't worry..."

Eren could hear the slam of a car door on the other side just as he slung his bag over his shoulder. "Okay. Okay, baby, I'll be there as fast as possible. I love you."

Just as Eren was about to reply, his door slammed open, banging against the wall hard enough to put a hole in the sheet rock, and causing Eren to drop his phone. The younger ran for the window, but his father was right on his heels, grabbing him by the back of his neck and yanking him to the floor.

"Where do you think you're going, you little fag?!" Grisha bellowed with rage, slapping his son across his face when he tried to fight back.

"LEVI! HELP!" Eren screamed towards his phone, but he couldn't tell if the call was still going through or not. For all he knew, the call had cancelled when he dropped the phone to the floor. Despite his father's rage, his hand balling into a fist and landing a punch to the younger's nose, Eren continued to fight back, screaming and thrashing wildly. But even in his intoxicated state, Grisha was still strong enough to hold his own.

But Eren had been preparing for this day for a while.

The fight went on five minutes, though it felt like an eternity, until Eren finally had his father penned beneath him. His fists flew wildly, throwing measured and heavy punches at the older man's head, hoping he would be too dazed to get to his feet. The boy took the opportunity to grab his things and run.

Out of the house.

Down the street.

Levi was there. Flying around the corner practically on two wheels. He slammed the breaks when he saw his beaten boyfriend running in his direction, throwing the car in park and rushing to his aid. Eren was inconsolable, his words slurring with his choking sobs and hitched breaths. Levi was livid, but he knew the best thing for the panicking boy now would be to get him somewhere safe.

Somewhere they both called home.

"Come on, baby. Deep breaths. That's it." he soothed, rubbing gently at the taller's shoulders to coax him into getting in the car. "Let's get you to my place. We'll get you cleaned up, and then you can rest. We'll skip school tomorrow, so don't even worry about it, alright? Come on, baby."

Levi's hands were gentle as he pulled Eren towards the car, and helped him to buckle his seat belt when he saw just how badly he was shaking. His heart shattered in his chest when he saw all of the blood and bruises marring his beautiful face, but he knew his physical injuries would be the least of their worries. Though he wanted to march his ass straight back to Eren's so called father and beat him within an inch of his life, he only grabbed the bags Eren had dropped in the street, throwing them in the back before driving the two of them back to his house.

The ride over was silent all except for Eren's heavy breaths, which were finally beginning to calm, and the occasional comforting whispers from his loving boyfriend. The radio was only a soft hum in the background, playing some shitty talk show that neither one of the boys gave two fucks about. Levi's hand was on Eren's thigh, rubbing soft circles against his leg with his thumb. The younger boy set a trembling, bloody hand over his, squeezing gently as his adrenaline began to wane.

When they finally arrived at the small house on the outskirts of town, Levi noticed that light was pouring through the living room window, blinds open, his mother sitting on the couch in waiting.

* * *

 Kuchel had been jerked awake from her sleep by her son's yelling and the sound of the front door slamming shut. When she bolted from her bedroom to the front door in a panicked frenzy, she was just able to catch the sight of her son peeling out of the driveway in her car. She first thought about calling the police, but her Levi was no delinquent like so many thought when they looked at him. She trusted her son, his judgement and actions, and believed that whatever reason he had for this had to be a good one.

It had to be an emergency.

It had to be Eren.

The single mother knew all wasn't well with Eren's home life. She knew he was having to hide who he was-who he loved-because he was terrified of his father. But because he wouldn't come forward to neither her nor the police, there was simply nothing she could do. Nothing except love and shelter the boy as if he were her own.

So that's exactly what she did.

When the boy came over to visit his boyfriend, the cuffs of his long sleeves pulled taut and crumpled in his fists to hide what she knew were bruises on his arms, eyes teary and void of light and hope, she was there to greet him with a warm embrace and gentle smile. When her son was awake well into the night with worry, pacing around his room as he was being eaten alive by a monster named Anxiety, Kuchel was there to comfort and reassure. Yes, both boys were her sons, so she would do whatever it took to care for them both equally.

Instead of letting her own anxiety get the best of her, she took a deep breath, and went to make some of Levi's favorite tea. She knew Eren wouldn't drink it, but he had told her many times how comforting it smelled. She readied him a glass of water-no ice, just how he liked-and grabbed the first aid kit to bring into the living room. She made sure the exterior lights were on so they could see clearly, and made the interior as warm and inviting as she knew to do. When she felt she had prepared the house for her boys' arrival, she sat on the couch in attempt to prepare herself, watching patiently through the open blinds of the window facing the driveway.

Roughly ten minutes later, headlights swept through the room, and Kuchel was finally able to sigh in relief. She went to the front door just as she heard the car's engine cut, telling herself she was ready for what was about to happen. Ready for whatever was about to step through the threshold.

She wasn't.

When Eren's eyes met her's, she felt as though she had lost her breath. Where one eye was turning a deep purple and swelling shut, the other had busted a blood vessel so that the white of his eye was a bright crimson. Blood was pouring in a scarlet waterfall from his nose, bruises littering his jaw and arms. But what truly terrified her was the nearly black hand print wrapping itself around his throat.

Eren wasn't helpless, Kuchel and Levi both knew that. He had gotten in plenty of fights at school before, and he had always made it through with nothing more than a bloody nose or a black eye. But then he had been fighting kids his age. _This_ was the result of Eren having fought a monster.

Just how close had he come to losing?

She rushed to his side, helping him from the vehicle before pulling him into a careful hug. "Oh, honey..." Her voice was only a breath as she kissed the top of his head, and gently began ushering him back towards the house.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." he was muttering repeatedly under his breath, prompting the two raven's to lock worried glances.

Kuchel brought him to the couch and sat him down, pulling away just enough to inspect the injuries on his face more closely now that they were in the light. The blood coming from his nose seemed to have stopped, and was now clotting on his tanned skin. Some of his bruises weren't as bad as they had looked in the dark, but she was still worried about the one on his neck.

"Levi, will you go get me a couple cool rags, please?" the mother asked her son soothingly, turning towards the boy fully when she noticed he hadn't moved from his spot. He was staring wide-eyed at the brunet curling in on himself, and she could practically see his heart pounding through his shirt. "Levi," she said more firmly, and steely silver eyes finally met with her own. "Cool rags. A few of them. Please."

Levi nodded stiffly, swallowing hard passed the lump in his throat as he finally got his legs working again. He ran to the kitchen and grabbed as many rags as he could hold, wetting them under the cold water coming from the faucet before ringing them out, and rushing back to his mother and boyfriend. He knelt down in front of Eren, passing the rags off to his mother so he could hold the brunet's hand while she started cleaning him up.

The traumatized boy's tears had finally stopped falling by this point, shock taking over to stiffen his sore and tired muscles as his brain seemed to shut down. Levi's grip on his hand only tightened, and Kuchel hummed softly as she wiped away blood and tears with cool cloths. "I'm sorry..." he whispered again, his throat raw and scratchy from his earlier screaming.

"Baby, you don't have to apologize for a single thing." Levi breathed out brokenly, utterly at a loss of how to help his sweet boyfriend. He missed the usual sparkle in his bright teal eyes, the way the corners of his lips quirked up into the kindest smile. The boy sitting in front of him now was completely different from the Eren he knew and loved.

Kuchel finally finished cleaning up the blood, but his beautifully tan skin was stained with a light crimson tint from where it had already been drying. "Levi's right, honey. Why are you apologizing?"

Eren wiped at his damp lashes with the backs of his hands, taking a deep breath in attempt to steady his breathing. He thanked the woman kindly when she handed him the glass of water, taking a sip before he spoke again. "I don't mean to be like this... I don't mean to be such a burden on you..." he took another deep breath, feeling a fresh wave of tears beginning to cloud his eyes.

Levi and Kuchel both shook their heads at the same time, but it was the woman who spoke up first. "Eren, don't talk about yourself like there's something wrong with you. There is  _nothing_ wrong with you. You're not a burden on us. We love you." she reassured soothingly, rubbing slow circles into his back. Her eyes found the clock hanging on the wall, seeing that it was nearly three in the morning. "Why don't we get the two of you back to bed. Sleep in as late as you want, you're staying home from school tomorrow so we can talk about this."

The brunet's eyes were suddenly wide with fear, looking between the two ravens on either side of him. "He won't find me here, will he? You don't think he'll come here?"

Levi was the one to speak up now, his rage thick and seething in his every word. "Don't worry, baby. He won't come here. He won't touch you. He won't ever touch you again." When his mother set a comforting hand on his shoulder, he felt the boiling in his veins begin to simmer down as he took a few calming breaths. "Come on. Let's go get some rest."

Kuchel kissed them both on the head before helping Eren back to his feet gently, so Levi could bring him to his room for some well deserved sleep. Once they were safely hidden away behind closed doors, she found her eyes beginning to well with tears as she looked down at the blood stained rags in her hands.

* * *

Levi tucked himself and his sweet boyfriend under the covers, and didn't hesitate to pull the brunet closer and wrap him in a loving embrace when bruised arms reached out for him. Eren's head rested against his chest, his body heavy against his own. His voice was rough when he spoke up, but stronger now than it was only a few moments ago.

"I'm sorry that I scared you, babe."

The raven only shook his head, inhaling deeply so that Eren's scent invaded every part of himself. " _You_ don't scare me, Eren. I was just afraid that I wouldn't make it to you in time." he admitted softly, the thought of losing his love was like taking a knife to his heart.

Levi looked down when he felt Eren begin to shift, and he hardly had time to prepare himself for the feeling of chapped lips pressed to his. The kiss was sloppy, all tongue and teeth, needy and full of passion. It was born of restless fear, budding anxiety, and unconditional love. It was more intense than their first kiss, more so than even the kisses they shared when they made love.

It was the most important kiss they had ever shared.

They pulled away when their breaths began to fade and strain, but even then Eren continued to pepper kisses on his boyfriend's blushed cheeks.

"I love you, Eren." Levi repeated his words from earlier, putting every ounce of honesty into the those three special words. His heart soared when he noticed the revival of the light he missed so much in Eren's beautiful eyes, the semblance of his sweet smile tugging at his lips.

"I love you too, Levi."


End file.
